The present invention generally relates to adapters and device rings for electrical junction boxes. More particularly, the present invention relates to an adapter that can be used to adapt a square electrical junction box to accommodate an electrical device having an alternative configuration, such as, for example, an octagonal or circular electrical device.
Junction boxes are used to harness electrical wiring from a circuit breaker and further relay that electrical wiring to electrical devices including but not limited to power outlets, switches, thermostats, smoke detectors, and lighting fixtures such as wall sconces or ceiling lights. Junction boxes are typically mounted onto a wall stud or ceiling joist prior to placing drywall or they are added during renovation if an additional electrical device is required. Junction boxes come in various geometric shapes such as square, rectangular, circular, and octagonal. An installer chooses a particular shaped junction box depending on the particular application of the project. For example, a square shaped junction box may be particularly useful to house two switching devices or a circular junction box may be used to save space inside a wall and mount a circular electrical apparatus such as smoke detector.
Cover plates and device rings are used in conjunction with junction boxes to secure the electrical apparatus being installed to the junction box. A cover plate or device ring is typically coupled to an exposed face of the junction box that permits the electrician or user to access the wiring contained within the junction box. Cover plates and device rings typically are commercially available in the same shapes as exposed face of the junction boxes and are designed to match the shape of the corresponding junction box.
In the process of a home or building renovation or remodel, the property owner may want to change the currently installed electrical apparatuses or fixtures in a particular room. One of the issues that arises during this process is that the junction box currently installed behind the wall is of a different shape than the device ring or fixture plate of the new apparatus. It is tedious time consuming and expensive process to remove the existing junction box and install the proper shaped junction box and as such, adapters have been created to accommodate different shaped boxes and device. An example of this would be during a remodel the property owner may want to change thermostats from a rectangular thermostat to a circular thermostat. In this example, the existing the junction box is square shaped and the thermostat requires a circular shaped junction box to have the best cosmetic appearance. In this case, a square to circular adapter can be mounted onto the square junction box and the square portion can be covered with drywall. The adapter then provides the thermostat a cosmetically appealing circular mounting base.
Most adapters currently in the prior art are square to circular. The circular, often raised portion of the plate/ring/cover is substantially smaller in diameter than the square box opening it is being mounted to. Due to this limitation, installers often need to purchase additional mounting straps and plates in order for the fixtures to be properly secured to the in wall junction box. Tremendous field modifications are required with the current square to round rings because they provide extremely limited area for wiring and fixture protrusions/voltage adapters to be mounted inside of an electrical junction box. Additionally many electrical devices and fixtures exist with octagonal mounting plates and the currently existing square to circular adapters cannot accommodate the octagonal mounting plate.
The present invention addresses the issues of limited cutout space on current adapters while providing an appropriate adapter for device with octagonal mounting plates to eliminate the need to change in wall junction boxes or make on job extra modifications to install the device.